Netherby Homestead sits inside Fagan Park like a footnote history forgot to erase. Walk through the front door on any given Tuesday, and the air itself feels older. But of all the rooms to stop you in your tracks, it’s the toy room that tends to do it.
Tucked among dolls, hand-carved wooden playthings and miniature tea sets is something that doesn’t quite fit any category. It’s called Reggie’s Racing Rocker, and it dates to the 1950s. Part bike, part bouncy toy — it had no steering, no brakes, and arguably no business existing. Yet here it is.
The contraption was designed and built by Christopher Daniels at his Precision Springs factory in Sydney. The physics were deceptively simple: a child’s body weight compressed a metal arch, which sprang back and pushed the rider forward. It worked. Just not in the way you’d expect a children’s toy to work.
What makes the Rocker genuinely strange is how it ended up famous. Channel 7 executives, looking for something to push their kids’ television program, landed on these rockers as a promotional vehicle. The show was hosted by a presenter known as Uncle Reggie — Reg Quartly — and before long, Daniels’ own daughters were appearing on air, riding their father’s invention alongside him. The toy was eventually named after Quartly himself.
Whether that naming came from the network or from Daniels isn’t clear. But the object survived. The TV show didn’t.
Netherby is open Tuesdays from 9 am to 4 pm, and on the second Sunday of each month from 1 pm to 4 pm. The Friends of Fagan Park run the place, and they don’t charge you anything to look.
